After my loss on Monday, and swindled draw on Tuesday, I then drew again on Wednesday. It was a pawn and opposite coloured bishop ending. Thursday saw my first win of the week, with a very enjoyable game. My opponent came out of the opening with a serious attack and put me on the defensive. However, I was able to counteract this by swapping off his most aggressive pieces and, in order to avoid a mate in one by me, had to sack a knight for a pawn. At the end of it all we had one of those strange material imbalances where I was a knight for two pawns up. My kingside was blown apart, but, by forcing the queens off I was able to pick up a second pawn and win the ending. Today was not so good - I lost. So I did better in the under-125 tournament than the under-100!
During the week we have been using the afternoons to see the local area. We've done quite a few walks around nature reserves and have been rewarded with ancient monuments that we didn't know existed. On Monday whilst walking along the river at Burgh Castle we came across an enourmous Roman fort. Then on Tuesday we found a 13th century priory with a well preserved undercroft.
On Wednesday, our wedding anniversary, we wandered around Beccles and found just the cooker that we needed, our old cooker being 16 years old and not doing too well. Two days of measuring up the kitchen etc (it's 5cm wider than the present cooker) and we finally bought it today. Both of us are really pleased. Yesterday we had a wonderful meal out in the evening - our anniversary celebration a day late. So, overall, although the chess hasn't always gone our way, we have at least spent a really pleasant time up here.
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